Privatized “Public” Schools: A Vessel Fit for Destruction

Learning in a state of denial…denying what is readily apparent to those who sit in silence. The old way is not designed for the 21st century…but the new way is just as destructive as the old way. Its one thing to have changed…change is good. However, change that inspires a pattern of regressive and antagonist behavior is just as detrimental to learning as doing things in a way that is incompatible with the times. That is where we have lost our footing. We have become so fixated on protecting the old way while embracing the evolving reality of American society…that we have become ignorant to the realities of our stubbornness and human inabilities.

There is no way to achieve absolute excellence. There is no way to achieve absolute racial integration. There is no way to achieve absolute equality. More so, there is no way to achieve anything in a repetitive sequence. Aligning our education system to this line of flawed thinking is aligning it to a system of inevitable demise that will allow it to become a “vessel fit for destruction.” Aligning our educational system to this line of thinking and (mis)treating teachers, administrators, and the nations youth based on it not only solidifies this reality, but it is equivalent to denying the story that America has written for itself. Aligning to this flawed and unjust line of reasoning is dangerous as it is subjective.

Our goal in America should be to free our education system from the torrential subjugation of corporatist aligned administrators and politicians who dangerously become loyal to the ideology that corporations will lead America’s perpetually disadvantaged youth to a place of educational justice. Our goal should be to align our education system to the needs of the communities they serve and the micro communities that reside within. The goals set forward should have weak relation to the prospect of outdoing another country or making a superior race of students in the prospect of creating a skewed sense of equality. Our goal should have everything to do with aligning our educational agenda to the social reality and the history that cultivated it with each other.

However, in order for this to happen, what is radical must become the norm. Those who are loyal to their political parties must shed their loyalties. Those who are loyal to their unions must question their union’s loyalty to them. Those who are loyal to their administrators and school districts must criticize their administrator’s loyalties. Those who are loyal to their corporations must question what their corporations are loyal to…and if it is the dollar, then your next action should be clear. Those who are loyal to their causes must weigh the burdens of those causes with the good they can produce. This must take place before anything, because in the end, it is the loyalty to the cause of a learning experience that works to the best of its capacity in a imperfect world for the benefit of this nation’s youth.

Another thing is that we must develop some courage, some gumption, and a little tough skin. The truth of the matter is that “our true enemy has yet to revel himself” and those who we align our loyalty to have lain without any forethought. We must attack the corporate giants that consume us, our communities, our sense of morale, and our schools. We must attack the school districts and unions who coddle with said corporate giants, because they are placing their bottom line over the greater good. We must attack the leaders and administrators who seek to silence and take shortcuts. Furthest more, we must attack those who take pleasure in demeaning and dehumanizing our nation’s educators and the army of support staff who back them up every year.